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Emily Dickinson

1850–1853: Youthful Courting

1856–1862: Prolific Writing, a Shock, and Civil War

In September 1853, Dickinson agreed to go on a rare trip
outside of Amherst. Josiah Holland and his wife Elizabeth, treasured
family friends of the Dickinsons, had urged Dickinson and Lavinia
to travel to Springfield to visit them. Dickinson adored the Hollands. The
relaxed atmosphere of their household was a comfortable contrast
to the reserved Dickinson household. Dickinson enjoyed watching
the unabashed affection between Josiah and Elizabeth and their
young daughter Annie, as well as Elizabeth Holland's unmarried sister
Minnie Chapin. The Hollands' easy affection seemed foreign to both
Dickinson and Lavinia. Their own father grew more and more stubborn
and complex with each passing year. He ran a cold, formal house.

Although a doctor by trade, Holland found he was attracted
to the literary life and longed to write. He founded a newspaper,
but it went bankrupt in six months. In Springfield, Holland ran
into Samuel Bowles, a friend and the editor of the Springfield
Republican. Samuel Bowles offered Dr. Holland the opportunity
to write book reviews and oversee a religion/ethics department on
the newspaper. Holland accepted. Dickinson met Samuel, not through
her Josiah Holland, but through her brother Austin. Samuel would
become a very important force in Dickinson's life.

In December of 1853, Edward Dickinson was elected to the United
States House of Representatives. He was called to Washington for
two years while Congress was in session. There was much at stake
during the Thirty-Third Congressional session. The Kansas-Nebraska
bill was working its way through the Senate. This bill intensified
the slave debate in America, because it directly contradicted provisions
in the Missouri Compromise barring the extension of slavery into
new states. The Kansas-Nebraska Act said that the legality of slavery
would be decided by "popular sovereignty," or by the inhabitants
of the new territories.

Edward Dickinson traveled back to Amherst several times
during the winter and spring of 1853–1854. He asked his wife and Lavinia
to join him for a few weeks in Washington. Dickinson, he knew,
preferred to stay home–her inclination for isolation was already
apparent. The family, minus Dickinson, eventually joined Mr. Dickinson
in Washington for six weeks. Susan Gilbert moved into the Dickinson
house for a time and John Graves, Dickinson's cousin, looked in
on the women every night.

On March 3, 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska bill passed in the
Senate by a vote of 37–14. On March 21 it was introduced in the House.
Edward Dickinson, a House member, fought against the bill along
with forty-three other Northern Whigs. Despite their efforts, the
bill passed, allowing new states to adopt slavery. A few nights later,
Edward held a meeting with other Whig Party members at his Washington
D.C. boarding rooms. The men decided to create a new political
party–the Republican Party.

Dickinson eventually traveled to Washington in 1855, spending three
weeks there with her father, mother, and sister. Dickinson had a
long-standing interest in politics and always kept abreast of current
events. Even though she had been unwilling to leave Amherst, Dickinson
adored Washington. She and her family rode a boat down the Potomac
River, visited Mount Vernon and the Capitol, and attended numerous
Washington parties. It was at these gatherings that the shy poet
shined. Dickinson dazzled her father's political cohorts. Her insights
into world affairs and her dry sense of humor bewitched almost
everyone who met her at these functions. Roger Taney, Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court, was especially enchanted by Dickinson. The
Dred Scott case was hanging over his head; he had spent most of
the evening discussing it, and found Dickinson's wit refreshing.

While in Washington, Dickinson ran into one of her childhood friends,
Helen Fiske, and Fiske's husband, a soldier named Edward Bissell
Hunt. Dickinson found Hunt captivating, and Hunt was fascinated
by Dickinson. Some scholars have said that Dickinson fell in love
with Edward Hunt, although there is no evidence to back up this
claim. However, Dickinson did write in a letter at the time that
Edward Hunt intrigued her more than any man she had met before.

After three weeks in Washington, Dickinson traveled to
Philadelphia to visit with her old school friend Eliza Coleman.
Eliza's father, Reverend Lyman Coleman, was pastor of the Presbyterian
Academy of Philadelphia, and through him Dickinson made the acquaintance
of a serious, dark-eyed man named Dr. Charles Wadsworth. Wadsworth
was a preacher at Arch Street Presbyterian Church. He was a brilliant
man, and Dickinson felt immediately drawn to him. He was married,
but he took to Dickinson immediately and when she left, they began
a long correspondence. Wadsworth occasionally visited Dickinson
in Amherst. Dickinson turned away more and more visitors as the
years passed, including her good friend Samuel Bowles, but she
never turned away Dr. Charles Wadsworth.

Dickinson's trip to Washington proved that she had both
the social and the intellectual gifts to be part of that world.
However, after returning home from her trips to Washington (and
subsequently Philadelphia), she retreated for good into her cloistered, self-made
world. Three portraits hung on the walls of her room: George Eliot,
Thomas Carlyle and Dr. Charles Wadsworth.